


A Second Chance

by DemonicWings



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, somewhat canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 13:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11921604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonicWings/pseuds/DemonicWings
Summary: He distances himself because Daiki believes that if they continue to be close, all he will give Tetsu is pain.“Are you an idiot?"“Wha-!”"You didn’t have to be so scared. Didn’t you trust in us enough? That we would make it through that phase?”





	A Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first KnB fic, so I hope I didn't make them OOC.  
> Hope you enjoy!

“I already forgot how to catch your passes.”

Tetsu ran away and that was when Aomine Daiki broke. He cried, the rain hiding his tears. He watched Tetsu running away, engraving it into his mind as he promised himself. He never wants to see Tetsu like this ever again, so he continues to push him away. He distances himself because Daiki believes that if they continue to be close, all he will give Tetsu is pain.

* * *

_“Dai-chan, did you know? Tetsu-kun found a new partner.”_

Satsuki told him that a few days ago and it’s been running through his mind since then. The curiosity finally won and he went to the basketball court she said that guy would be in. He saw him from afar and immediately walked up to him, naturally putting on a mask of arrogance. _That’s Tetsu’s new partner? He seems average._

“Hey. You’re Kagami Taiga, right? Play me. I’ll test you.”

“What? Who the hell are you? I don’t take kindly to guys who tell me to play them without even telling me their names.” Daiki doesn’t like him already.

“I’m not asking how you feel. If I tell you to play, you play. I guess I can at least tell you my name first. It’s Aomine Daiki.”

“Aomine? I’ve heard about you, but you can’t expect me to just say yes when you talk down to me like-”

“Come on now! I said I’m not asking. Shut up and play. No one’s expecting a real match. I told you, I’m just testing you. I’m not looking for something that doesn’t exist, like a stronger player than myself. I just want to know how much you can do to relieve my boredom.” _And see if you’re worthy to be Tetsu’s new partner._

“From Kise to Midorima, the Generation of Miracles is full of guys who piss me off. But you’re on another level. I’ll crush you.”

Daiki smirks. In another lifetime, maybe. He doesn’t say it out though.

* * *

“This is ridiculous. Did you really beat Midorima?” _This guy is weak, what was Tetsu thinking?_

“Bastard…”

“Tetsu’s judgement must be clouded. You can’t draw out his full potential. He’s a shadow. The stronger the light, the darker the shadow. In other words, he becomes stronger or weaker depending on the strength of the light.” This is the jealously speaking and Daiki knows it. He doesn’t stop it though. “Your light is… too dim.”

* * *

It was only a few days later that Daiki saw Tetsu again. He sleeps in on purpose, not wanting to face the reality of having to play against him. But his captain calls and he can’t think of a good enough excuse, so he goes. He reaches the court near the end of the second quarter. His eyes soften when they meet Tetsu. His basketball is still as amazing as he remembered. Then they hardened again when they saw his lousy excuse of a new partner. He clenched his fists, feeling the jealousy welling up. Of all the people, Tetsu picked him. Daiki took a deep breath then walked onto court, mask instinctively covering up his emotions.

 

He joins the game during the last thirty-one seconds but the second quarter ends with none of them scoring again. Kagami isn’t bad, Daiki will give him that, not many people can catch up in the time it took him to spin. Guess he’ll have to kick it up a notch.

The third quarter begins with Daiki fully warmed up.

The fourth quarter ends with Touou doubling Seirin’s score.

* * *

When they return to the locker room, Daiki sits down and clenches his fists. Playing against Tetsu was painful, especially when he saw the lousy excuse of a light he had chosen to replace him. Daiki grits his teeth, barely able to contain the need to punch a wall. He’s frustrated. That Tetsu replaced him so easily, that Tetsu found a guy like that as his new light.

“I thought they’d be stronger, considering they beat Shutoku. Especially No.11, Kuroko, right?” _Shut up._

“He was absolute garbage towards the end! He was real uptight about it until the very end.” _Shut the fuck up, you don’t know anything about Tetsu._

“He should’ve given up sooner.”

Daiki immediately stands up and grabs the front of his teammate’s shirt, slamming him against the lockers none too gently, silently thanking him for giving him an excuse to punch something.

“For someone who didn’t play, you sure have a big mouth. Shut up.”

“Aomine! What are you doing? Let him go!”

Daiki doesn’t want to though, because no one insults Tetsu and gets away with it. But he realises again that he has no right. After all, he isn’t the one by Tetsu’s side anymore. So instead, he settles for lifting that shit up by his shirt, letting his legs dangle in the air for a while before dropping him and walking out of the room. Because he doesn’t know what else he’ll do if he stays.

* * *

They’re at the hot springs this time, his team deciding to go to the hot springs all the more when they find out Tetsu’s team is going to be there too. They arrive a while after Seirin does and Daiki decides not to join them in the water. So he grabs his bottle and heads for the inside instead. He turns the corner and sees Tetsu lying on the bench, a wet blue cloth covering his eyes as Kagami stood in front of the vending machine. Daiki hides, not really wanting to talk to the red-head. He sticks his head out a little, seeing as they made some small talk before Kagami heads out. His eyes drift to Tetsu’s form. He’s been in the hot springs too long, Daiki guesses, wouldn’t be the first time he’s done it. Daiki smiles as he recalls the fond memory, remembering how he was the one at Tetsu’s side, instead of Kagami. He instantly scowls at the thought of Tetsu’s new light. He sticks his head out and hesitates at first but seeing as there’s no one around, he takes the chance.

He walks up to Tetsu, casually placing his water bottle next to his head. “Here.”

Tetsu lifts the cloth covering his eyes. “Thank you.” He bolts up immediately when he sees Daiki.

“It’s been awhile, Tetsu.” Daiki comments as he bends down to pick up his drink that he just bought from the vending machine.

“Aomine-kun.”

* * *

Daiki drinks from his can. “I saw your game. Was that the new move Satsuki mentioned?”

“Yes.” Tetsu says with determined eyes. “I developed it to use against you.”

Daiki isn’t sure whether he should feel hurt or honoured that Tetsu designed this move specifically to defeat him. Both, he supposes, laughing dryly. Anyone would be honoured if an enemy had to develop a new move just to defeat them. But on the account that they were once friends and more than that, Daiki can’t help but feel a little hurt.

“Sorry, but it won’t work. The one that’ll win the Winter Cup…”

“...is us!” Kagami butts in, slinging his arm around Daiki’s shoulder.

Daiki glares at him, not bothering to hide the hate in his eyes, “Don’t put your arm around my shoulder.”

“Kagami-kun.” _Dammit Tetsu, don’t say his name._

Kagami walks over to Tetsu. _Get away from him_. Daiki’s hands clenches.

“What are you doing here?”

“You’re going to win, huh?” Daiki walks over to the bench Tetsu was lying on before and sets his empty can on it. “It’s not enough. More. It seems you really did open the door, but you’re just standing in the entrance. You’re not even close to the Generation of Miracles. You’re not even entertainment yet.” Daiki says what he wants to because Tetsu’s right there and it’s hard to not think about him. About how he misses him, about how he wants to hold him in his arms again. So instead, he addresses Kagami and hopes his dislike for the red-head will be enough to stop thinking about Tetsu for even a short while.

* * *

Tetsu laughs when he finds out that the first opponent in the Winter Cup is against Daiki. “Sorry, Kagami-kun. I… actually celebrated internally just now.”

Kagami stares at Tetsu for a while before chuckling as well. “What are you talking about? Everyone’s thinking that. No one thinks winning will be easy.” He walks over to the can Daiki left on the bench and picks it up, crushing it in one hand as he continues, “If we win enough games, we’re bound to face them sooner or later. Nothing beats repaying a debt quickly.”

Tetsu’s standing right behind Kagami like a shadow, both showing the same determined expression that Daiki has never seen before on Tetsu. It’s all happening right in front of his eyes and Daiki’s chest starts to hurt. It’s like some stupid show that’s showing him that he’s not Tetsu’s light anymore, that Tetsu is someone else’s shadow now. He covers it up with a smirk though, as he had so many times before.

“Fine.” He forces out. “Bring it on.”

* * *

It’s the Winter Cup and he’s playing against Tetsu’s team for the first match. He can tell that they’ve gotten stronger. The game begins.

* * *

He lost. For the first time in practically forever, he lost. It’s supposed to suck, he’s supposed to feel sad, but Daiki realises that losing to Tetsu doesn’t feel as bad as he thought it would be. Maybe it’s cause it’s Tetsu or maybe because he’s been waiting for someone to finally beat him that it’s a welcome feeling. Daiki doesn’t know, all he knows is that as much as it sucks to lose, he doesn’t mind it as much as he thought it would. Honestly, if anything, it just makes him want to train again.

Daiki sees Tetsu start to fall over from being too tired but before he can help him, he sees Kagami coming up and grabbing Tetsu’s arm, slinging it over his shoulder to prevent him from falling. Daiki feels jealous again. Why couldn’t that be him? He prepares to walk away because he doesn’t want to look like some jealous ex-boyfriend. _Shit, it still hurts to be reminded of that._ But Tetsu calls his name and he could never ignore him, so he stops and states the obvious.

“You win, Tetsu.”

“Can I ask you for a favour?” Tetsu holds his fist out. “You still haven’t returned my fist bump.” Right, he left him hanging back in Teiko didn’t he. Of course Tetsu would remember something as dumb as that.

“What?! Who cares about that?”

“No. Try putting yourself in the shoes of the ignored.”

Daiki stares at him before he sighs, Tetsu sure is persistent in getting his fist bump. “Fine. This is the last time though.” They both know he’s lying. “Next time, I’ll win.”

“Okay.”

Daiki bumps his fist against Tetsu’s.

* * *

Daiki was lying down on the grass near the river bank where Tetsu ran away from him when he heard a familiar voice.

“Aomine-kun!”

“Tetsu? Why are you here? Actually, how did you even find me?” He never thought that Tetsu would return to this place. It only brought bad memories after all.

“Momoi-san told me. She said you were feeling down lately and wanted me to cheer you up.” Tetsu informed as he took a seat near Daiki.

“Satsuki that-” Daiki sighed. “You don’t have to. Don’t you have training? Winter Cup isn’t over yet you know. I’m surprised you even have the time to come here.”

“To be honest, one of the more major reasons why I came here was because I wanted to be around Aomine-kun more.”

“Wha-”

“Say, Aomine-kun, is there a reason why you always come to this place when you’re feeling upset?”

“Did Satsuki tell you that too?”

There was a pause before Tetsu answered. “Yes.”

“She is so going to get it when I see her again.” Daiki mutters darkly under his breath. “Just pretend like you didn’t hear it, it’s none of your business.”

“Yes, it is. Don’t pretend like it’s not. You owe me that much.”

Daiki turns his head to look at Tetsu before giving in. “Fine.” He turns his head back to face the sky and keeps quiet for a while as he thinks of what to say. Weirdly, as if Tetsu knew as well, he also kept quiet and didn’t pester him to talk.

“I come here cause there’s nothing that can be more upsetting than hurting you. So whenever I feel down or anything, I just come here to remind myself that. I’ve already done the shittiest thing, whatever unhappiness I have can’t possibly compare.”

If Daiki was looking at Tetsu, he would have seen the way his eyes widened in surprise, before returning to their normal blank gaze.

“And?” Tetsu’s voice is heard after Daiki stops talking and Daiki stares at him in amazement. After all this time, Tetsu still could read him like an open book huh.

Daiki chuckles dryly before continuing, “I recall the memories of that day. When I remember your face on that day, it hurts. I hate myself for being the one to cause it.”

“So it’s self-punishment then?”

“Something like that.”

“Why did you even say those words in the first place?” Tetsu’s voice carried traces of hurt and Daiki’s heart clenched at the sound of it.

“I… could feel myself getting stronger. I was scared that one day it would just spin out of control and I would say shitty things to you without even knowing it. So I decided that it would be better to get hurt then than get more attached and make the pain worse.”

“Are you an idiot?”

“Wha-!”

“You didn’t have to be so scared. Didn’t you trust in us enough? That we would make it through that phase?” Tetsu pauses before he continues. “Though maybe it’s better this way.”

Daiki freezes as Tetsu says those words. So Tetsu thinks breaking up with him was better than staying with him? Well that was painful to hear. “Maybe… You got a new boyfriend that will hopefully treat you better than I did.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You and Kagami.” It was hard to say the words out, but Daiki managed to force it out eventually. “You’re more than just partners right?”

“No we’re not. What gave you that idea?”

“What?! Then what were you talking about? What’s better this way?” Daiki sat up as he turns to face Tetsu.

“Ah… I was talking about how you found a new rival in Kagami-kun. If we never split to different schools, we might still be winning every game and you might never find someone who could give you a good match. At least, this way, Kagami-kun can be your rival and Aomine-kun wouldn’t get bored of basketball anymore.” Tetsu explained it like it was common sense and it probably was but Daiki is just not smart enough to think of it that way.

“Oh…”

“Besides, if I was dating Kagami-kun, are you saying that I’m cheating on you?”

“Wha- wait, we broke up didn’t we?”

“Unless my memory failed me, neither of us actually said the words, did we?”

“That’s beside the point Tetsu, I said so much shitty things to you. I don’t deserve you anymore.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Hey!”

“But even if I could choose anyone else again, I would still choose to be with Aomine-kun.”

Uh oh, that just melted his heart. Daiki swore he could feel his face heat up. Thank god for dark skin.

“Also, I think that’s enough self-punishment. You can repay the rest by making up to me. In person.”

“Tetsu-”

“Aomine-kun. Do you love me?”

“Of course I do!” Daiki then realises what he just said. Shit, he said it more on instinct then anything. What was he doing, he’s supposed to be pushing Tetsu away.

“And I love you too. So unless you give me proper reason why we can’t date, we’re still dating.”

“You deserve better?” Daiki tries but the tone comes out unsure.

“You already used that one Aomine-kun.” Tetsu deadpans.

Daiki opens his mouth to say something else but one look at Tetsu shuts down his resolve. Dammit. Tetsu was so unfair sometimes. Who can resist him when he’s staring at him with those puppy dog eyes?

“Fine! But we’re starting over, okay? And on one condition too.” Daiki knows he isn’t in the position to be making demands, but this was one thing he can’t let go if they start dating again.

Tetsu smiles, the one he used to give back when they were dating happily, the one that always made him feel like the rest of the world had faded away. “Okay. What is it?”

“Daiki.”

“Aomine-kun?” Tetsu tilts his head and it’s so adorable that Daiki just wants to kiss him right there and then but he resists.

“It’s Daiki. When we date, you have to call me Daiki. Aomine-kun is just so un-close.”

“But Ao-”

“Tetsu! Will you be my boyfriend?”

Tetsu sighs, but smiles nonetheless.

“Yes, Daiki.”

Daiki seals that answer with a kiss before Tetsu can take it back. Not that he would, after all, Daiki knew Tetsu that much.

Tetsu gave him a second chance, no way is he gonna fuck it up. Not this time.

 


End file.
